I decided to wait till the second episode before determining to blog this or not. I just saw the second, and I’m really enthusiastic about this show. The first episode will come as soon as two other anime get their first episode subbed. I’m looking at you, Angelique and Flag!
I do admit, though that the previous episode was better than this one. In just one episode, it made me feel huge sympathy for two young boys, which does not happen that often. The fact that fifteen years passed also added up to this, as I’m a major fan of time-leaps. At least, if they’re carried out well. *coughJyuuOhSeicough* The music also didn’t play through the entire episode. This is a shame, as it’s one of the most-fitting soundtracks I’ve heard in a while, except for Noein, perhaps.
Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love this episode. It’s very different from the previous episode, and it focuses on a man, who hates people with supernatural powers with passion. And this guy just happens to frequent the pub in which Naota and Naoya have landed in.
This guy, or Jin, is an interesting case. He used to have a extremely cruel mother, who used to harass him, and eventually ran away with a guy who claimed to be supernatural. Whether this guy really was paranormally gifted remains unknown, but Jin never got over this. The fact that he’s violent and impulsive, combined with this lead to a growing hate towards people who claim to be supernatural, and he isn’t scared to let the world know whenever he’s got the chance. He’s a pitiful guy, though the short-tempered Naota really has trouble not to pay attention to his ramblings. In the end, Jin remained the one with the most unstable personality. After all, he just believed what he saw and heard from people who were “pretending” to be supernatural, and let his anger take control. I wonder how he will end up after this incident. After all, he can’t say that supernaturals don’t exist anymore. I think his hate will either get larger or he’ll just pretend that nothing happened, and stop talking about supernatural things in the first place.
Naota also really has grown during these fifteen years. But at the same time, you can see that he still remains the same Naota. His temper still remains, though he doesn’t just go out of control when he’s angry anymore. The times at which he does lose control is when Jin is beating someone up. Naoya also seems to have set himself a goal to prevent Naota from getting too angry. Though his own powers remain horrifying, especially when the only things he sees are horrible, malicious and depressing thoughts.
In the end, the main purpose of this episode was to show the fact that normal humans are unable to accept paranormal humans, and they instantly get labeled as monsters. Most humans indeed are afraid when they see things they don’t know about. To see things that aren’t right in their world.
Two visitors in the pub appear to be either main characters, or major side-characters. Apparently, they also decided to stop by and eat something, and never had any intention of getting involved in the mess which followed afterwards. At the end of the episode, they go away as fast as possible, though the woman does make the mistake of letting Naoya touch her. This shows a picture of a woman, trying to strangle the two of them. According to Naoya, they died afterwards, though I think they either lived afterwards, or they´ve got some paranormal powers which makes them revive after being killed.
Shoko, the paranormal girl from the previous episode, meanwhile indeed has disappeared, in order to do something concerning the two brothers. She seems to be a major character in the anime, though her role still remains unclear. I also wonder what Miki will be doing afterwards. Her role cerainly isn´t over yet, though what is it?
Overall, I’m a huge fan of character-studies, and Night Head Genesis really promises to be awesome. It isn’t without flaws, though. The storytelling’s a bit unconfortable at times, and things depend on coincidences a bit too much. Not to mention that Naota getting angry gave me Higurashi-flashbacks. Still, this anime definately stands among the three good shows of this season.
